Former CEO of China Huarong International Holdings Sentenced to Death for Corruption
Former CEO of the financial company China Huarong International Holdings, Bai Tianhuey, has been sentenced in China for «serious crimes» committed between 2014 and 2018. The state news agency Xinhua reported that he was found guilty of accepting «huge bribes» totaling 1.1 billion yuan ($153 million).
China Huarong International Holdings is the largest asset management company in China, focused on managing distressed debts. It is one of the four asset management companies established by the Chinese government in 1999 in response to the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of the board of directors of China Huarong, was executed in January 2021 after being found guilty of accepting bribes amounting to 1.78 billion yuan ($251 million) from 2008 to 2018.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has been focusing on combating financial risks as his administration seeks to stabilize the world’s second-largest economy, according to Bloomberg.
Xi’s years-long anti-corruption campaign has led to the dismissal of over 1.5 million officials. In recent years, this campaign has intensified.
Among the high-ranking financial executives under investigation are Wang Bing, former chairman of Bank of China, one of China’s four largest state-owned banks, and Tian Huiyu, former president of China Merchants Bank Co. Both were sentenced to death with a reprieve.
While many Chinese officials and executives facing the death penalty for corruption have been given reprieves in recent years, this does not apply to former China Huarong executives. The authorities have deemed their crimes to be very serious.